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N.E.W. Conversion
Here follows my personal thoughts on converting a D&D 5th edition game to the N.E.W. ruleset, entirely or partially, as well as different ways it could be approached. For a simplified and much abbreviated description of a possible hybrid system of D&D 5e and N.E.W., see this page. For an outline of the major points of the N.E.W. ruleset, see this page. General The biggest difference between the two systems is, of course, the fact that D&D is a d20 system, and uses all sorts of polyhedral dice, while N.E.W. uses only d6's. This spawns most of the rest of the difficulties in converting. All TTRPGs are similar in that the rules exist to allow the DM to reference something concrete to challenge the players when the players attempt a task or action. It should therefore, be possible to take bits and pieces from each ruleset as desired so long as nothing conflicts with anything else, and the DM has tools to use in case there are holes in the rules that don't cover a specific circumstance. The important points in the rules that must be resolved by the conversion are: * Ability Checks and Player Statistics * Spells and Class Features * Combat * Items and Equipment Statistics * Monster and NPC Statistics Ability Checks Due to the nature of each system, this will have to be handled one of two ways: either convert the N.E.W. d6 system to d20 rolls with flat modifiers, or do all ability checks with d6 pools. D6's vs. D20's Rolling 3d6 and taking the total has the same average as rolling 1d20 (10-11), but when you start comparing a large number of rolls they show a difference: * A d20 has an equal chance of landing on each of its sides, so there is no consistency to its rolls. * 3d6 has a lower maximum than a d20 (18), but a higher minimum (3), and will tend towards rolling its average total far more than a low result or a high result. How N.E.W. Uses D6's All checks in N.E.W. use d6's almost exclusively. What makes a smart character's Hacking check different from another character making the same check? The first character is probably rolling at least 2 more d6's than the second. There are a few things in the N.E.W. system that assign flat modifiers to rolls, but they are rare. Instead of adding a proficiency bonus to rolls, you add extra dice. A +2 magic sword or wand from D&D has no place there: instead a +2d6 exceptional sword would be used. Things like Sharpshooter in D&D that subtract from a hit roll instead subtract one or more d6's. Is your enemy behind cover? They don't get a bonus to AC: you have a -1d6 penalty to hit them. The list goes on. It only matters because the rules make us care about the results of those d6's. If rolling two 6's and a 1 was no different from rolling a 5 and two 4's, there would be no reason to do it this way, and the system would use flat modifiers added or subtracted from 3d6 instead. * N.E.W.'s critical successes rely on d6 rolls. If on any check you roll at least three 6's, it is a critical success. This means that the more dice you roll for a check, the higher the chance for a critical success. This is a fantastic way to scale the crit chance for all characters, as opposed to a specific class feature simply declaring you crit on a 19+ instead of a 20. * N.E.W. also has certain features which use "exploding dice". This is actually rare in the system, but when a character rolls a 6 with such a check, they can add another d6 to their total result for the check. (Note: if the new dice rolled is also a 6, they can repeat the same effect as long as they keep rolling 6's.) How Dungeons & Dragons Uses D20's In D&D, all checks use the iconic d20. As stated before, this has a much larger variance in its results than rolling multiple d6's does. D&D accounts for different circumstances of a check by using modifiers, and the Advantage / Disadvantage mechanic of rolling two d20's and taking either the higher or the lower result for the check. There are several types of modifiers: * Proficiency: Scales with a character's level, regardless of their class, and is added to any check which the character has some decent level of experience with. * Ability Modifier: Determined by a character's attributes, added to relevant checks (STR for climbing, INT for recalling information, etc). * Equipment: Usually confers no benefit, but can add a little bonus to checks made using the equipment. * Environment: Technically speaking, a check made to attack an enemy under Cover has a penalty to the attack roll. Advantage and Disadvantage are used liberally, for everything from Sneak Attack and Surprise to Poisoned and Obscurity. The mechanic is simple and easy to comprehend, which makes calculating the result of a check quick and painless. Add to that the fact that MOST of the circumstantial penalties or benefits to a check use Advantage or Disadvantage, as opposed to modifiers, and you get a system that is very easy to understand and use. No table of different conditions that add or subtract from your roll. Check DCs (Difficulty Classes) DCs in N.E.W. do not adjust based on who or what is attempting the task. The DM can adjust, of course, but two completely different people would still try to achieve the same number or better with a dice roll. * 7 is an easy DC, 13 is challenging (climbing with handholds), 16 is difficult (lockpicking), 25 is strenuous (walking a tightrope), and 33+ is nigh impossible (repairing an engine with medieval tools, lifting an automobile). * The attitude of the system is "You can certainly try". If you have enough dice in a pool to succeed on a DC, your character could probably reasonably be able to succeed. A person can try to lift a car (DC 38-40) with average, or even above average stats, but will fail every time. A character with enough dice to make this check likely has an obscene Strength score and equipment that can add dice to his check, so if they roll well enough it makes sense that they could ''succeed. * If this idea were converted to a d20 system, you'd end up with low-skill characters rolling an Athletics check with a d20 and little to no modifier, versus high-skill characters having a modifier of +7 or +16 to the same check. The problem there is that a low-skill character that rolls high is almost equivalent to a high-skill character that rolls low. If you were to make the modifiers larger, or make it so there's a minimum value a high-skilled character can roll, that would mean that there's basically no point to rolling at all, since the d20 is more like a variable bonus to your score than an actual deciding factor. DCs in D&D must sometimes adjust based on who is doing what, especially with skills that aren't Perception, Investigation, or Stealth. * This is due to the fact that each skill covers a wide variety of subjects, so even if a wizard and a warlock have the same Arcana modifier, each character might have a different level of experience with making an Arcana check to identify the runes inscribed on an infernal ritual circle. * Because a d20 has so much variance, modifiers are actually the most important thing in a check. That shortsword with a 1d6+1 damage roll may not seem like much, but the additional 1 guaranteed point of damage makes the weapon worth more than a 1d8 rapier. Any increase to a character's statistics, proficiency, and skills are worth more in some cases than advantage on a roll. Which to Use? '''Advantages to N.E.W. Checks' * The Skill system is much more in-depth. Players can access many different skills that are more specialized and focused than D&D's skills, and they can access more of them as they please throughout character progression. It is easier this way to tell what chance a character has of making a check. * DCs are set differently, being more consistent across a party. DCs in D&D 5th edition cannot have this luxury most of the time. Where N.E.W. would say "roll a Logic check to see if you know what this toxin is, and add Poisons ''or ''Biology ''if you have those skills", D&D can only say "roll a Nature check, the DC is different for each of you". * Scaling critical success. The critical chance increases the more dice a character rolls for a check, which adds feel-good for a player who's invested many points into a certain subject or trait. '''Advantages to D&D Checks' * It is a simpler system. Character sheets are concise, and have room for notes. Players can easily grasp the concept and the DM doesn't have to keep track of that many modifiers or circumstantial bonuses / penalties. What modifiers exist are easier to add up than a bunch of d6's are. * Advantage / Disadvantage mechanic. A simple and quick way to make a roll easier or harder for a creature or character. This is infeasible with the d6 system, because it takes longer to roll and add up a check, and the results tend closer to the average anyway. * Players are already used to the d20 system. Player Statistics This section will compare and contrast the different ability score systems of the two RPGs. The terms "attribute" and "ability score" are used interchangeably here to refer to these character statistics. There are more base Ability Scores in N.E.W. than there are in D&D, making ability checks a bit more targeted and specific in that system. * N.E.W.: '''Strength, Agility, Endurance, Intuition, Logic, Willpower, Charisma, Luck, Reputation, Psionics * '''D&D: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma N.E.W.'s Ability Scores are used to derive a dice pool, much like D&D's scores are used to derive modifiers. There isn't much else that they are used for in either case. The addition of the LUCK attribute in N.E.W. is also worth noting. This statistic provides a character with a number of dice that they can spend to add d6's to their ability checks, replenishing every in-game day. This functions exactly like Inspiration in D&D. All characters have access to Luck dice. The average value for one of N.E.W.'s attributes is much lower than the average value for a D&D ability score. In N.E.W., a 4 is about average for a humanoid in any attribute, and a 12 is almost the highest possible for them. Saving Throws & Defense N.E.W. does not use saving throws at all, which is a large setback. In D&D, saving throws are a critical mechanic. The reason N.E.W. has no such thing is likely because each character and creature in the game has three separate Defense scores (comparable to Armor Class in D&D): one for Melee attacks, one for Ranged attacks, and one for Mental effects. Thus, instead of the affected creature making a saving throw to resist or dodge an effect, the attacker instead makes an ability check against their target's corresponding Defense score. If the saving throw mechanic would be included in a conversion, there are several ways to approach doing so: * If N.E.W. ability scores are used, it would be fairly easy to declare that a saving throw is simply a check using the appropriate ability's dice pool. In this case, every saving throw DC would have to be reduced considerably, to somewhere in the 4-15 range as opposed to the 10-23 range of D&D. ** Something else to consider in this case (or any case using N.E.W.'s attributes) would be whether or not to allow the use of Luck dice when making a saving throw, and rules for doing so. * Alternatively, each character could have three different saves, to reflect N.E.W.'s three defense scores: Melee (or Fortitude save), Ranged (or Reflex save), and Mental (or Will save). The benefit to this is that they could be derived from the same dice pool that the Defense scores are, allowing characters to apply certain skills to their saving throws. A character with the ''dodge ''skill would have a better Reflex save. The drawback is that D&D's six different saving throws must be compressed into three. Presumably this would mean Strength and Constitution become Fortitude, Dexterity becomes Reflex, and every Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma save is now a Will save. ** The compression of D&D's saves could be handled a bit differently as well. All AOE effects could become Reflex saves: any saves against restraining, toxin, weather, etc. could be Fortitude, and anything that targets the mind or magically transforms or teleports would require Will saves. ** Every effect in N.E.W. that acts like a saving throw spell from D&D uses some sort of attack roll against a Defense score: so what if the D&D spells and effects are converted to all attack-roll based as well? This could function like the example above, where a AOE effects become a Ability vs. Ranged Defense, effects that target the body become Ability vs. Melee Defense, and effects that charm, teleport, or otherwise affect the mind become Ability vs. Mental Defense. Character Classes & Progression D&D uses classes to determine what abilities a character has. A ranger shares a few things in common with the Fighter, but ultimately is unique and fairly dissimilar from every other class. N.E.W. has no such system. (See the Rules Outline page for details.) To summarize, instead of having classes that a character must progress through linearly, N.E.W. has more of a list of many different tiny perk trees, known as Careers. * Any character can start a Career as long as they meet any prerequisites that the career has. These prerequisites can be race-specific, or require the character to have at least one rank in one or more specific skills. * When taking a level in a career, a character chooses from several benefits to gain permanently. * A career can be selected more than once; each new level grants the character another choice of benefits. * Whether starting a career or taking an additional level in it, a career grants two attribute increases and an Exploit (which is a minor feature, much like a Feat in D&D). The player chooses which two attributes to increase from a list the career offers, and which Exploit to take. This setup means that every character is highly customizeable, and is not restricted to any one track. The way that a character levels up is also different, but the specifics are not relevant enough to the topic of conversion. Suffice it to say that it would be fairly easy to apply either the D&D levelling system or the N.E.W. levelling system to a conversion game. Using Careers in a Conversion Game If the N.E.W. ability score and skill system is used at all, then progression ''must ''follow the N.E.W. rules from the conversion point forwards. D&D character class levels would have to be converted to Careers, using what would be most appropriate. It is worth noting that much of the wording of Exploits is similar to D&D's class features and Feats. Spells N.E.W. has a system for psionic powers, but such powers are generally focused on non-damaging effects, self-buffs, or telekinetic abilities. Psionic users take exploits to gain these abilities, usually instead of taking a career exploit. What this means is that psionic characters have very few "spells" that they can know at a given time compared to D&D characters, and the things they can do with those abilities are far more limited than in D&D. It may be possible to use D&D spells in a N.E.W. game, under certain conditions: * The damage of any damaging spell would need to be significantly lessened, OR the health of all characters and creatures would have to be buffed to compensate Category:Sci-Fi Category:Meta Category:Sci-Fi Rules